WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The member states of the United Nations today took a first step toward approving a treaty that could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year by controlling the global arms trade. Meeting in New York City today, the First Committee of the General Assembly voted to study the feasibility, scope and draft parameters for a comprehensive, legally binding agreement establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms. The United States was the only country to vote no on the resolution. "The world is awash with weapons, including an...

War In The Middle East: U.N. peacekeepers may have done more than just look the other way as Hezbollah created its armed state within a state. The blue helmets may have served as Hezbollah's military intelligence. Real-time battlefield intelligence is a keystone of 21st century warfare, especially when you're up against a terrorist enemy that has had six years to construct hardened underground bunkers and tunnels from which to fight while not having to obey the rules of war. The situation gets complicated and your task becomes harder when that real-time intelligence is being provided to that enemy, Hezbollah, by...

Predictably, the United Nations has begun its appeasement of Hezbollah by asking Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanese sea and Air ports. This is an affront to the Israelis as the United Nations has not implemented all the elements of the cease fire agreement and no attempts have been made to disarm Hezbollah. If the United Nations had its way, Israel would open the door to a flood of weapons to rearm Hezbollah terrorists and seal their own fate in the process. This is a classic example of the diplomacy that has characterized the United Nations and demonstrates why...

The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) is investigating new allegations implicating UN peacekeepers in the "sexual exploitation of minors," it has said. "MONUC has received allegations about the existence of a major prostitution ring involving minors, close to a large concentration of Congolese soldiers and Blue Helmets (UN forces) in South Kivu, (in the) northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo," the UN mission said in a statement Thursday. The statement did not mention the nationalities of the peacekeepers implicated, but the spokeswoman, Sylvie van den Wildenberg, said the region had UN troops from India, Pakistan,...

For many years the United Nations has had their eye upon the guns of the worlds’ citizens. Socialists and Communists know from experience that removing guns from the people is the best way to remove their freedom. Americans know from experience that we needed our arms to win our freedom and that we had better keep them if we are to remain free! The Associated Press reported in 1994, "So quietly that even the gun lobby hasn’t noticed, the United Nations is beginning to set its sights on global gun control." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported to the General Assembly...

WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- New Zealand is sending a delegation to New York this week to "strongly support" an arms trade treaty under discussion at the United Nations. Newire.co.nz reported on June 27 that Phil Alpers was leading the New Zealand contingent -- which will assist in presenting the "Million Faces" petition to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan -- to the discussions, which opened Monday. Alpers helped found the 700-member International Action Network for Small Arms. The petition includes one million photos of people around the world calling for a halt to small arms proliferation, including 12,000 New Zealanders. Alpers...

The UN's "Borderless" WorldBy Joseph KleinFrontPageMagazine.com | April 24, 2006 While pro-immigrant rallies get most of the attention from the mainstream press, many law-abiding American citizens are fed up with the reality of tens of thousands of foreign nationals every few weeks continuing to enter this country illegally through our porous borders, added to the more than 11 million illegal aliens who are already here. Americans are bearing a grossly disproportionate share of the security risks and economic costs associated with such migration, which makes it a national problem for Americans to solve through their elected representatives and through voluntary...

Code: ZE05110406 Date: 2005-11-04 Sustainable Development a Responsibility, Says Vatican Archbishop Migliore Warns U.N. of Future Challenges NEW YORK, NOV. 4, 2005 (Zenit.org).- For the Holy See the promotion of sustainable development is a question of responsibility and solidarity vis-à-vis present and future generations. The Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, made these comment Thursday in an address to the U.N. General Assembly's Commission on Sustainable Development. "My delegation believes that development plans and poverty reduction strategies must be integrated into environmental sustainability," said the papal representative. "Without environmental stewardship, development will have no sound...

UNITED Nations chief Kofi Annan was embroiled in another huge row last night after secret changes were made to a report linking Syria to the murder of Lebanon’s ex-PM. Family members of Syria’s President Bashar Assad were implicated in the killings — but dropped from a printed version of the UN report. Amazingly, the deletions were spotted when an electronic version was issued by mistake. Computer experts said the crucial changes were made while the report’s author was meeting Secretary General Annan. The report alleged Maher Assad — brother of President Assad — plotted the killing of Rafik Hariri and...

United Nations Day, 2005 A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America Sixty years ago, the United Nations was created to spread hope and liberty, fight poverty and disease, and help secure human rights and human dignity for people everywhere. On United Nations Day, we recommit ourselves to the ideals on which this organization was founded. Throughout history, the human spirit has been tested by the forces of darkness and evil. Since its founding in the aftermath of World War II, the United Nations has worked to solve problems and harness the best instincts of humankind. Today,...

UNITED NATIONS The United Nations must do more to ensure its peacekeepers follow new rules against sex abuse, according to a new report by an independent refugee organization that found a "boys will be boys" culture still prevails in many military missions. The report released Tuesday by Refugees International – "Must Boys Be Boys? Ending Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in U.N. Peacekeeping Missions" – said a "hyper-masculine culture" has evolved among peacekeepers who bond together and erect a "wall of silence" to shield themselves from outside criticism. The U.N. instituted a policy of zero tolerance of sex abuse and zero...

Expect world leaders to dodge some scheduled United Nations sessions today in a rush to attend the opening round of the Clinton Global Initiative, where 750 global glitterati and their aides have converged on the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers – at $15,000 per head – to forge a "new level" of global cooperation. The former U.S. president has sought openly a post-presidential position commensurate with his vision, hoping to use his "clout, connections and charisma" on behalf of the global community. A South China Morning Post headline captures the mood: "His plans are grand, but can he save...

good or evil: who decides?Dr. Raymond DeSouza Who decides what is good or evil? The state? Society? The individual? Join Dr. Raymond De Souza as he teaches about the Natural Law and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.Contact:Dr. Raymond De Souza http://saintgabriel.com.au PO Box 111 Western Australia 6058 Telephone:[61] 08 9202 1300 Back to Series List

http://www.news.com/Will the U.N. run the Internet? By Declan McCullagh Story last modified Mon Jul 11 04:00:00 PDT 2005 An international political spat is brewing over whether the United Nations will seize control of the heart of the Internet. U.N. bureaucrats and telecommunications ministers from many less-developed nations claim the U.S. government has undue influence over how things run online. Now they want to be the ones in charge. While the formal proposal from a U.N. working group will be released July 18, it's already clear what it will contain. A preliminary summary of governmental views claims there's a...

"If and when these reforms are enacted, Mr. Speaker, the world will be safer and stronger, the American people will be assured their money is being well-spent, and the United Nations charter to prevent wars, protect human rights, and advance the cause of human freedom will be reaffirmed." So declared House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) on June 17 in his concluding remarks in support of H.R. 2745, the United Nations Reform Act of 2005. It must be tempting indeed for a great many folks to believe that merely passing a piece of legislation could transform the United Nations from...

UN tackles sex abuse by troops Changes include a new code of conduct for peacekeepers and monitors within each mission. NEW YORK – Since accusations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in Congo arose a year ago, the United Nations has taken vigorous measures to address a problem that has dogged it for years. Consider: • Since Jan. 1, 2004, the UN has investigated 152 cases of alleged sexual violations - dismissing five UN staff and sending home 77 military personnel and national police from their missions, including six commanders. • The UN Security Council held its first-ever meeting on May...

You Can't Reform a Deadly Disease A thinking person who discovers a tumor attacking a vital organ will quickly find a surgeon to cut it out. Only someone bereft of his senses will continue to feed the growth and assume that it will not hurt him. Likewise, a thinking person will not try to "reform" an institutional entity that has no worth. He will shut it down. Any careful reading of the Charter of the United Nations should lead one to the conclusion that the world body is to our nation what a cancerous tumor is to a human being....

In the Herbst Theater auditorium in San Francisco, delegates from 50 nations sign the United Nations Charter, establishing the world body as a means of saving "succeeding generations from the scourge of war." The Charter was ratified on October 24, and the first U.N. General Assembly met in London on January 10, 1946. Despite the failure of the League of Nations in arbitrating the conflicts that led up to World War II, the Allies as early as 1941 proposed establishing a new international body to maintain peace in the postwar world. The idea of the United Nations began to be...

As millions of children look forward to a break from school, millions of oth­ers only wish they could begin. For these children, summer days will not be spent in ballparks and play­grounds, but on battlegrounds or in fields. These children have no time for play. It's all work. And the work is dirty, hard and dangerous. According to the International Labor Organization's (www.ilo.org) global report, "A Future Without Child Labor," 246 million children worldwide are in­volved in child labor, which should be abolished. The study found that 179 mil­lion children ages 5 to 17 are exposed to forms of child...

Saying that the Joint Chiefs and combatant commanders “strongly support” ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has stated that the measure “ensures the ability of the US Armed Forces to operate freely across the vast expanse of the world’s oceans under the authority of widely recognized and accepted international law.” [1] But would our military leaders support the treaty if they knew that the activists behind it were also instrumental in promoting the International Criminal Court (ICC), which could prosecute and imprison American troops and military...

Abortion Politics at the United Nations By Joseph A. D'Agostino NEW YORK CITY--Abortion politics pops up everywhere. All this week at United Nations headquarters, the UN Commission on Population and Development is meeting to discuss strategy in combating HIV/AIDS. As one speaker at the conference put it, AIDS has afflicted so many people in some developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, that "HIV/AIDS is no longer only a public health issue, but a population and economic development issue as well." With HIV adult infection rates at 10%, 20%, or even over 30% in some sub-Saharan African countries, the AIDS epidemic...

The United Nations is out of touch with most Americans, who think the beleaguered organization has abandoned its mission to keep peace and protect human rights around the world, says U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's chief of staff. "In a very real way, we seem to have lost touch with the great middle in America, a middle which very much believes in the aspirational ideas of the U.N. ... and who feel that we've drifted away from a commitment to human rights, a commitment to help the poor of the world," Mark Malloch Brown said yesterday. The United Nations is under...

The [Irish] Government plans to ignore a key recommendation of the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) concerning abortion legislation. In its submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination, published yesterday on the eve of International Women's Day, the IHRC recommended "that the Government should introduce legislation to define the circumstances in which abortion can currently be legally carried out in Ireland". Responding to the recommendation last night, a Department of Health spokesman said: "The Government has no plans for legislation in regards to abortion." However, Labour Party deputy leader and spokeswoman on health Liz McManus supported the...

Disarmament and Destructionby William Norman GriggUnder the guise of "peace and safety" the United Nations seeks to disarm entire populations. Never mind that disarmed populations invariably invite tyranny and genocide! Global disarmament: The United Nations is intent on granting itself a monopoly on the use of force by removing small arms from private hands. History has shown that such monopolies have contributed to tyranny, bloodshed, and genocide. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them... and they shall not escape. — I Thessalonians 5:4 According to the United Nations, global "peace...

Dear Colleague, A major UN conference is brewing. This one on disabilities. The UN is trying to draft a global treaty that could promote homosexuality and euthanasia. Yours truly, Austin Ruse President ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ January 14, 2004 Volume 8, Number 4 UN to Draft Sweeping Convention on All "Disabilities" Next week the United Nation convenes a working group to continue drafting an international convention on people with disabilities. The eventual treaty will set domestic legislation on disabilities as treaties are legal documents binding states that ratify them. There is a strong push to finish the Convention this year, and currently...

NEW YORK, January 13, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The United Nations has launched a series of cartoons containing condoms as the main characters. “The Three Amigos” condom characters promote the so-called safe-sex message that condoms prevent HIV/AIDS. The UN describes the campaign as the "start of the world's largest integrated behaviour modification program," according to a WorldNetDaily report. The feature presents the characters, Shaft, Stretch and Dick, in a variety of settings. Canadian producer-director Firdaus Kharas said, “We're using humor to stop the spread of AIDS.” The television advertisement is already playing in the Netherlands, South Africa, and Canada, and has...

The helicopters are taking off and landing now in the tsunami-shattered villages and towns. The sick are being taken for treatment. Clean water is being delivered. Food is arriving. Soon the work of reconstruction will begin. The countries doing this good work have politely agreed to acknowledge the "coordinating" role of the United Nations. But it is hard to see how precisely the rescue work would be affected if the UN's officials all stayed in New York - or indeed if the UN did not exist at all. The UN describes its role in South Asia as one of "assessment"...

The United Nations With World War II still being fought, delegates from the United States and twenty-five other nations met and issued a "Declarations of the United Nations," the first official use of the term "United Nations." In 1943 representatives of the USSR, Great Britain, Nationalist China, and the United States met in Cairo, Egypt where plans were laid for the creation of a world organization. Another high level conference was held in Tehran, where Joseph Stalin was brought into the planning. In 1944 the initial drafts of the UN Charter was drafted at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC. Finally,...

Earlier today, responding to these remarks by the UN's Jan Egeland But U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland suggested that the United States and other Western nations were being "stingy" with relief funds, saying there would be more available if taxes were raised. "It is beyond me why are we so stingy, really," the Norwegian-born U.N. official told reporters. "Christmastime should remind many Western countries at least, [of] how rich we have become." "There are several donors who are less generous than before in a growing world economy," he said, adding that politicians in the United States and Europe...

The U.S. military can force its personnel to wear the blue beret of the United Nations and serve under the world body's command, a federal judge ruled. Judge Paul Friedman upheld the military's conviction of former Army specialist Michael New, who refused to don the U.N. cap and shoulder patch and to serve in a peacekeeping mission in Macedonia nearly 10 years ago, the New York Sun reported. New argued that the Constitution and the law governing U.S. participation in the world body prevent the president from sending American troops into possible combat under U.N. command without express authorization from...

Beijing (AsiaNews) – ‘Westernising’ and ‘disintegrating’ trends in the name of religion threaten China and the government must “be patient and meticulous in imperceptibly influencing the people”, especially the young and leading party cadres, so as to stop the “growth of religions, cultic organisations and superstitions and strengthen Marxist atheism”. These are the main points presented in a paper prepared by the Department of Propaganda of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to stop the growth of religion and spirituality among the Chinese.Conversions among the young and leading party cadres are of particular concern. For this...

If you desire, go to CAGW and sign the form! Whereas, the United States supplies 22 percent of the regular UN budget; Whereas, powerful evidence now suggests a number of UN officials, along with leading political figures and businessmen from France and Russia, received illegal kickbacks from Saddam Hussein through the UN Oil-for-Food program; Whereas, Russian firms received $7.3 billion in business from the Oil-for-Food program; French firms received $3.7 billion; and the UN raked in more than $1 billion in commissions on the oil sales; Whereas, the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations estimates that the former Iraqi regime...

U.N. ignores pro-Life and anti-cloning references in its report on speech NEW YORK, September 24, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco gave a spirited defence of the right to life before the United Nations General Assembly Thursday. However, without an actual transcript of his talk the world would never know about it. The notable speech called for international protection for life "from the moment of conception." The United Nations press release covering Pacheco's remarks totally omitted this call as well as his call to join the comprehensive ban on human cloning. President Abel Pacheco told the UN, "As...

NITED NATIONS, Aug. 1 — When it comes to the movies, the United Nations has long played hard to get. Filmmakers hoping to wrap their lenses around the cathedral-like spaces of this icon of midcentury aesthetic were always turned down, and that included Alfred Hitchcock, whose request to shoot "North by Northwest" on location in 1959 was rejected. Officials were not even swayed by the presence of Cary Grant, a leading man who could fill a pair of striped trousers more smartly than most. When the director Sydney Pollack came calling last year with his new $80 million film, "The...

BOSTON -- Sen. John Kerry's sister assured a rally of feminist Democrats here yesterday that her brother will name several pro-choice justices to the Supreme Court if elected president. "There are three things my brother is going to do when he's elected president," Peggy Kerry told a Boston event held yesterday at the Harvard Club by the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Feminist Majority. Mr. Kerry will restore $34 billion to the United Nation's population fund for family planning, she pledged, and the Democrat will make sure that "CEDAW," an international treaty to eliminate discrimination against women, is...

Amid reports that senior officials in Sudan have directed recruitment, arming and other support to Arab militias waging a "scorched-earth" campaign against African tribes in the province of Darfur, a new poll shows U.S. citizens feel Washington should back a future United Nations declaration of "genocide" with armed force.

Bush Administration Frustrating U.N. Population Control Advocates WASHINGTON, June 21, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.net) - Disgruntled U.N. officials and population control advocates have expressed indignation with the Bush administration's increased efforts to cut all funding to the United Nations Population Fund, the population control wing of the United Nations which has been implicated in human rights abuses in China involving coerced abortion and sterilization. The critics, many of them speaking anonymously because the U.S. is the leading contributor of their agencies, complained that the administration's efforts are undermining their advances in "family planning" around the world. Sterling Scruggs, a former official in...

July 19, 2004 -- WASHINGTON — American officials believe that millions of dollars Saddam Hussein skimmed from the scandal-plagued U.N. oil-for-food program are now being used to help fund the bloody rebel campaign against U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government, The Post has learned. U.S. intelligence officials and congressional investigators said last night that the "oil-for-insurgency link" has been recently unearthed in the numerous probes now under way into the giant U.N. humanitarian program, in which Saddam is believed to have pocketed $10.1 billion through oil smuggling and kickbacks from suppliers. Congressional investigators have uncovered hundreds of documents ......

Dear Fellow FReepers,Please join in the call for Senator Kerry to release the videotape of his July 8 "Hate Fest" at Radio City Music Hall by signing this petition.You can view and sign the petition by clicking here.Further, you can urge your friends and family to sign the petition by clicking here. Please ask everyone you know to sign. When we have collected enough signatures, we will mail hardcopies to the Kerry Campaign, the Bush Campaign, and the Media.The petition reads as follows: To: Senator John F. KerrySenator Kerry, release the videotape of your July 8, 2004 fundraiser at Radio...

Proposal to Have U.N. Monitor Elections Ends in Partisan Clash By Dan Morgan House Republicans view a recent move by 11 Democrats to have United Nations observers monitor U.S. elections as a politically motivated stunt, and last week they moved to nip the idea in the bud. But after an unusually rancorous skirmish that brought proceedings on the House floor to a standstill late Thursday, the issue may have received more publicity than even Democrats hoped for. It pitted Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), author of an amendment to the 2005 foreign aid bill aimed at blocking U.N. involvement in U.S....

HOUSE MEMBERS WILL DISCUSS REQUEST TO UNITED NATIONS TO MONITOR ELECTION Rep. Johnson Spearheads Effort to Invite International Body Washington, D.C. - The request by several Members of Congress to the United Nations to send observers to monitor the upcoming Presidential election has sparked interest around the globe. At this juncture a dozen House Members have signed the letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Thursday morning those Members who have signed the U.N. letter will hold a news conference on Capitol Hill to discuss the ramifications of their request. ”We are hoping that our action will alleviate the nation from...

TOKYO -- Japan will launch a $27.5 million project this week to explore the East China Sea bed for natural gas, an official said Tuesday, an undertaking that would put Tokyo in direct competition with neighboring China for potential offshore gas deposits. Japanese officials have grown increasingly worried that China's undersea drilling might draw gas from the Japanese side. China, which has conducted its own studies, has suggested that the two countries develop the area together, but Tokyo has refused. Beginning Wednesday, the quasi-government Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. will use sonic waves and other methods to research...

Unnoticed by most people outside the maritime industry, major new security measures came into effect last week for ships and seaports worldwide as part of the War on Terror. While airports and airlines have undergone extensive changes in security in response to 9/11, the world's 20,000 harbors and 55,000 ships had until July 1 to implement the new International Ship and Port Facility code. Designed by the International Maritime Organization at the urging of the United States, the ISPFS is meant to protect maritime facilities from terrorist attacks and from use as terrorist weapons. About 150 countries have signed on...

The very controversial Law of the Sea Treaty, LOST, which is still in committee, is a done deal, according to a senior White House official. Of the 145 countries that have ratified this United Nations treaty, the U.S. is the only major power not to have ratified it. Various groups of countries that have signed it include all of the G8 countries with the exception of the U.S., almost two-thirds of the countries in our hemisphere that are members of the Free Trade Areas of the Americas, as well as both NAFTA partners. The Law of the Sea was placed...

The policies of Sustainable Development are changing the very fabric of America. Sustainable Development entered the world officially in 1987 in a report of the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development entitled, "Our Common Future". This commission was chaired by Gro Harlem Bruntland, Prime minister of Norway and Vice-President of the World Socialist Party. A well known mantra that originated from that report is "meeting today's need's without compromising future generations to meet their own needs". If one is to look, this mission statement has been incorporated into many government and non-government organizations. Is it a surprise that it...

More on Environmentalism Science, Politics and Deathby Arthur B. Robinson & Jane M. OrientEnvironmental extremism kills. Millions die annually because of restrictions on DDT, and imposing the "Kyoto" regulations would kill many more.Dr. Arthur B. Robinson, a professor of chemistry, is the founder of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, and editor of the newsletter Access to Energy. Dr. Jane Orient, a specialist in internal medicine, has a private practice and is the executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Easily usable energy is the currency of human progress. Without it, stagnation, regression and untold...

Last week, Oklahoma judges considered a fundamental question - the status of international law in state courts in the U.S. And they made a paradigm-shifting decision. Not only did they properly treat a U.S. treaty as binding law, they also relied on a March decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. (The ICJ, the U.N.'s highest tribunal, is also often referred to as the World Court.) The result was to halt an execution that would have taken place May 18--the execution of Mexican national Osbaldo Torres, whose right to assistance from the Mexican consulate was not...

Bush Administration Pulls Plug on Financing of Pro-Abortion Global Health Council Conference By Dave AndruskoThe Department of Health and Human Services has officially decided to withhold funding from an upcoming June conference which features a number of speakers from pro-abortion organizations and the "fiercely anti-Bush Moveon.Org." Sponsored by the Global Health Council, the June 1-June 4 conference on global health and reproductive rights "will likely promote policies contrary to the president's," according to the publication, The Hill.Among the presenters at "Youth and Health: Generation on the Edge" are advocates from such abortion-promoting organizations as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)...